The Two Body Parts You Need to Flex if You Want to Build More Lower-Body Strength

You flex your biceps. But when’s the last time you’ve flexed your ankles and hip flexors?

Not often enough, probably. These two areas are some of the least-mobile on your body. When they can’t move through their full range of motion, your lower-body strength and athleticism suffers, says Men’s Health Fitness Director. B.J. Gaddour.

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That’s why he recommends doing the band single-leg flexion drill, shown in the video above. Sure, it seems boring—but it’s a huge game changer.

If you work just 5 to 10 reps of the movement on each leg into your warmup every day, it’ll help you lift more weight, harness more power, and decrease your risk of injury, says Gaddour. And that sounds pretty damn exciting to us.

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